Iraq Leader Gives Basra Gunmen Ultimatum

Al-Maliki remained in Basra on the second day of clashes to supervise a crackdown against the spiraling violence between militia factions vying for control of the southern oil city.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to al-Maliki, said gunmen will be targeted for arrest unless they surrender their weapons to police stations in Basra by Friday and sign a pledge renouncing violence, The Associated Press reported.

An official with Iraq’s Southern Oil Company said fighting had not affected Basra’s oil output or exports, which provide the vast majority of government revenues.

Suspected Shiite extremists also unleashed projectiles against the U.S.-protected Green Zone in central Baghdad for the third day this week, but no group claimed responsibility. Three Americans were seriously injured in the attacks, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said. At least eight Iraqis also were killed after rounds fell short in several areas of Baghdad.

At least 55 people have been killed and 300 wounded in Basra and Baghdad after the fighting spread to the capital’s main Shiite district of Sadr City, police and hospital officials told the AP.

This week’s violence has elevated fears that the cease-fire declared in August by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could unravel, presenting the gravest challenge to the Iraqi government in months.

If al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia resumes intense fighting, it could kill more U.S. troops and threaten – at least temporarily – security gains hailed by Washington as signs that Iraq is headed toward peace.

Officials in al-Sadr’s headquarters in Najaf, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that the anti-U.S. cleric had sent local representatives to ask al-Maliki to leave Basra and resolve the problems peacefully. The aides also told the government no negotiations could be held until Iraqi reinforcements withdrew from the city.

Sadr, who has not appeared in public for months, issued a statement Tuesday calling on Iraqis to stage sit-ins all over Iraq and said he would declare “civil revolt” if attacks by U.S. and Iraqi forces continued, Reuters reported.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner insisted the Sadrists were not being singled out and blamed Iranian-backed rogue militia factions for the recent violence, although he declined to link Iran directly to the fighting.

Bergner also noted the Iraqi government was taking the lead in the Basra operation, although U.S. troops were involved as members of transition teams helping train the Iraqis.

He said the Iraqi government had appealed to Iran to help restore calm in Basra.

“This is not a battle against the (Mahdi Army) nor is it a proxy war between the United States and Iran,” he said. “It is the government of Iraq taking the necessary action to deal with criminals on the streets.”

Iraqi reinforcements were sent to Basra from the Shiite holy city of Karbala, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said, adding a large number of gunmen have been detained.

British troops have remained at their base at the airport outside Basra and were not involved in the ground fighting, although British planes were providing air surveillance, according to the British Ministry of Defense. It said the Iraqis had not asked the British to intervene. British forces turned over responsibility for Basra to the Iraqis in late December but say they will assist the Iraqis upon request.

Hundreds of Sadr City residents took to the streets on Wednesday, demanding the government stop military operations in Basra and other cities and withdraw all security forces.

Intense fighting began Tuesday morning in Basra as rival factions of Iraq’s Shiite majority and criminal gangs are competing for control of the southern oil hub, considered the center of the national economy.

The city has since become the scene of a bitter turf war between the Mahdi Army, the Badr organization allied to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council of powerful politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, and the smaller Shiite party, Fadhila, ahead of provincial elections in October.

Criminal gangs are also vying for control of lucrative oil-smuggling routes.

The power struggle has been marked by assassinations and kidnappings. The city’s police chief has escaped a number of attempts on his life.

An indefinite 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was imposed by authorities in Basra and the central-southern Shiite cities of Kut, Samawa, Nasiriyah and Hilla.

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